Smith & Wesson Model 1917 Revolver

Unable to produce enough semi-automatic pistols to meet the
requirements of World War I, the American army turned to older
revolvers chambered for the same rimless cartridge.

Massachusetts natives Horace Smith and Daniel Baird Wesson,
famous for their revolver designs, are also known for having
developed the first practical American-made self-contained metallic
cartridge, the .22 rimfire short. Both men were experienced in the
design and manufacture of firearms, and in 1852, they formed a
partnership for the purpose of manufacturing magazine-type arms.
Their Norwich, Connecticut factory produced the iron-frame
lever-action Volcanic pistol, patented in 1854 (see case 42 gun
#1), which was a direct predecessor to the Henry and Winchester
lever-action rifles that became famous during the Civil War and
post-war periods.

The Volcanic was a lever-action pistol that featured a
front-loading tubular magazine located under the barrel. This gun
used a unique type of ammunition that consisted of a hollow-base
conical bullet containing propellant and backed by a primer
disc.

In 1855, Smith & Wesson sold their interest to the
newly-organized Volcanic Repeating Arms Company. The firm's
manufacturing facilities moved to New Haven, with Smith serving as
plant manager for the new company, and Wesson working as plant
superintendent. Soon, however, both men left Volcanic and returned
to Springfield, Massachusetts, Horace Smith's hometown.

In 1857, Volcanic went into receivership. The firms assets were
purchased by Oliver Winchester, a Volcanic stockholder, and was
reorganized as the New Haven Arms Company. Production was
discontinued entirely in 1860, but the company survived, and by
1866 it became known as Winchester Repeating Arms Co.

In November 1856, Smith and Wesson formed a second partnership
to develop and manufacture a revolver that chambered metallic
cartridges. Wesson had continued earlier experiments intended to
produce a self-contained metallic cartridge, and by August, 1856,
he had completed a wooden model of a pistol designed to chamber a
rimfire cartridge. Wesson soon discovered that a key feature of his
design, a revolving cylinder that was bored to a constant diameter
from end to end, had already been patented by Rollin White, a
former employee of Samuel Colt. Smith and Wesson entered into an
exclusive license to use White's patent in the manufacture of their
revolver. White was to receive royalties of 25 cents per gun
produced until the expiration of his patent in 1872.

During Smith & Wesson's first year of production, White saw
a meager $1 in compensation, but this was soon to change. By 1858,
Smith & Wesson's production of both revolvers and ammunition
was increasing, and would soon outgrow their original manufacturing
facilities.

In 1860, the partners completed a new building that would allow
continued expansion. Eventually, Smith & Wesson would sell
their interests in ammunition manufacturing, but the production of
revolvers would continue. Wesson's original design, the seven-shot
Smith & Wesson Model No. 1 First Issue Revolver, was
manufactured between 1857 and 1860. This model, with modifications,
continued in production as the Model No. 1 Second Issue and Model
No. 1 Third Issue Revolvers, with nearly 260,000 of all three
variants produced before discontinuation in 1881.

By this time, the firm's product line, payroll, and output had
increased dramatically. Revolvers chambered for .32, .38, and .44
caliber cartridges supplemented the original .22s, and the firm
employed about 500 workers and produced 400 revolvers per day.
Smith & Wesson had become dominant in the manufacture of
revolvers, and the company's products were sold around the world.
In July, 1873, Horace Smith retired after selling his interest in
the company to D. B. Wesson.

By 1880, Daniel's three sons, Walter H., Frank L., and Joseph H.
Wesson, were working alongside their father, but Daniel continued
to make all major decisions. Frank Wesson died in 1887, but Walter
and Joseph continued as partners in the firm until D. B. Wesson's
death in 1904. Both Walter and Joseph were well-qualified to assume
management of the family business, but neither they nor the
executors of their father's estate could agree on the future
direction of the company. Without Daniel B. Wesson's strong
guidance, the firm experienced a prolonged period of weak
leadership.

Between 1912 and 1915, the two brothers alternated as president,
until Walter's failing health forced him to cease active
involvement with Smith & Wesson. Joseph then became president,
but his own health problems frequently kept him away from his
office.

In 1917, the United States entered the First World War, and
Smith & Wesson received large government contracts to produce
revolvers for military use. The company expanded its operations
into a new facility, and increased its workforce as well, but
Joseph's ill health, as well as labor disputes, created major
problems for the gun manufacturer. Consequently, the government
took over management of the firm until the war ended. With the
return of peace, a surplus of military arms and the import of large
numbers of inexpensive guns produced additional challenges.

Joseph Wesson died in 1920, and Harold Wesson, Joseph's nephew,
assumed leadership of the company. Faced with dwindling sales and
operating losses, Harold Wesson sought to diversify the company's
product line. With the exception of two brief forays into the
manufacture of shotguns and sewing machines, the firm had always
concentrated its efforts on the production of handguns, but
Harold's tenure as president saw Smith & Wesson's entry into
the manufacture of handcuffs, washing machines, and toilet flush
valves. None of these ventures stemmed the flow of red ink.

By the outbreak of the Second World War, Smith & Wesson was
nearly bankrupt, and operational control of the company passed into
the hands of Carl R. Hellstrom, a consulting engineer who had been
hired as plant superintendent. Hellstrom brought Smith & Wesson
back from the brink, and his wartime and post-war management of the
firm saw a renewed concentration on the manufacture of handguns, as
well as an expansion of both the company's production facilities
and its product line. Although still located in Springfield,
Massachusetts, Smith & Wesson has been a corporate subsidiary
since 1965, when the Wesson family sold their interest to the
Bangor Punta Corp. During this period, the company expanded its
product line to include a holsters and other firearms-related
accessories, as well as riot control equipment and other items
intended for use by law enforcement agencies.

In 1984, Bangor Punta was purchased by Lear Siegler Corp., which
in turn was acquired by Forstmann Little & Co. in 1986. The new
owner was primarily interested in Lear Siegler's automotive and
aerospace operations, and Smith & Wesson was sold to Tompkins
P.L.C., a British holding corporation. Under Tompkins ownership,
Smith & Wesson continued as an innovative company. The firm
expanded its line to include a new semi-auto pistol in the
increasingly popular .40 S&W chambering, as well as their
polymer Sigma Series pistols, which are available in a variety of
calibers.

The company established a second manufacturing facility in
Maine, and it invested heavily in computerized machine tools,
robotics, and other state-of-the-art technology. Smith & Wesson
diversified into the manufacture of car parts, tools, and even golf
clubs. As an added source of revenue, the firm opened several
retail stores, as well as catalog and Internet sales operations,
which sold a number of non-firearms products branded with the
highly-recognizable interlocking "S&W" trademark.
Unfortunately, these new products could not offset losses incurred
by a decline in handgun sales, coupled with increasing costs
associated with anti-gun lawsuits brought against the industry by a
number of U.S. cities and by crime victims.

In March 2000, Smith & Wesson was the sole firearms
manufacturer to sign on to a deal with the Clinton Administration
which required the firm to comply with a number of dubious "safety"
and marketing requirements; in return, S&W was dropped from
government lawsuits. Far from having the desired effect, Smith
& Wesson faced immediate backlash from the gun-owning public in
response to what was seen as a sell-out to anti-gun hysteria. Sales
plummeted as the shooting community spontaneously boycotted Smith
& Wesson products. As a result, the firm's management began to
distance itself from this agreement. At present, the agreement
between S&W and the government has not gone into effect.

In May 2001, Tompkins sold Smith & Wesson to Saf-T-Hammer,
an Arizona-based firearms safety and security firm. The company's
product line is focused is on preventing unauthorized gun use and
unintentional firearms-related accidents, and its customers include
firearms distributers, retailers, law enforcement agencies, and
gunsmiths.